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Author
Topic: Hep. C w/HIV? (Read 4731 times)

Hi everyone,I was just wondering about the effects of being co-infected with HIV & HCV.I have had both for at least 16 years. I'm just wondering how one affects the other?Of course when I get my lab tests, they test my liver and the progression of the Hep. C. I have no cirrhosis and a few years ago I had to do this treatment for the HCV called something like Peg-Intron? I had to give myself an injection in my stomach once a week and I took some pill everyday, but they said the treatment failed. This after most of my hair fell out and I was icky sick the whole time (6 months). I'm just curious as to if anyone else is co-infected with the same thing and if they know of anything I can expect?

P.S I quit the drinking and smoking and all that other fun stuff about 3 years ago

I had the coinfection thing going on too, but I was sucessfully treated for hep C in 2002/03 with the same stuff as you - peg-intron. (and yes, that treatment sucks!) I went for 52 weeks instead of six months because there is a lot of evidence that hep C is more difficult to treat in the presence of hiv infection.

Hiv is said to accelerate the progression of hep C and you might want to think about having a biopsy done. It is totally possible to have normal liver enzyme levels but still have significant liver damage when you have hep C - I did. There was only one time that my enzymes came back elevated but biopsy showed damage at the pre-cirrhosis level, which isn't very good at all.

Since my hep C was sucessfully treated, my hiv has been under control without hiv meds. My viral load has remained low and my CD4s in the 6-700 range with percents at 27-29%. So, I think my body is doing a better job of fighting the hiv now that I've got one less virus to worry about. At the time of my hep C treatment, I'd had the hep for around 18 years and the hiv for five. So now I'm nine years hiv positive and still hiv treatment naive.

There is a very good website you should check out called hiv and hepatitis.com They have the best coinfection information I've ever found anywhere.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Hi Ann,Thanks so much for your response!!! I think at the time I did the treatment for the HCV they hadn't quite figured out that people with HIV also need to be on the treatment longer.I did have a liver biopsy once, but that was before I did the PEG-INTRON thing. I'm pretty sure that they would encourage me to do the HCV treatment again and for longer this time. (I shudder at the thought) , but if it's absolutely necessary I think it's definitely worth it. My ID doctor keeps nagging me to go back to the Gastroenterologist guy, but I keep putting it off because EVERTHING that had to be done associated with him was MOST unpleasant!. I guess I better get it in gear and go ahead and get started with whatever unpleasantness is in store for me this time.